Tag Archives: New York

I’m not that keen on posting letters to the editor, unless they are exceptionally well-written, or if they contain actual numbers. One Jack Sullivan, apparently from Malone, NY, gathered up the actual experience of several upstate NY wind projects and compared them to the developers’ earlier statements. Almost needless to say, the disparity was striking.

The wind energy industry has long maintained that there are no losses in property values around wind energy projects, and have produced several studies that claim to support that. Unfortunately even a cursory look at these studies reveals fatal (and in my opinion, intentional) flaws.

If the wind industry actually believed their propaganda on this issue, you’d think they’d be willing to guarantee either compensation or buyouts for the neighbors. After all, it shouldn’t cost them very much and would go a long way to eliminate almost all the opposition. But as we all know, actions speak louder than words. Iberdrola, the large Spanish wind energy company, wanted to build a project in Hammond, upstate NY. The council there, as part of the approval, proposed such a guarantee to protect their residents. No doubt you can guess Iberdrola’s reaction. Read the story below.

This newspaper article from Watertown NY provides some numbers on decreasing house prices in the Cape Vincent area, where no turbines have even been built yet. These numbers seem consistent with many other studies, even those sponsored by the industry. If the link above goes dead, the story is also saved here.